Cold!

It's not the coldest it's ever been, but after the lovely 'warm weather' of 34 degrees last week, 15 degrees with a windchill of 8 feels cold. The snow and ice that melted a little and created a slushy mess is now frozen solid, making the driveway an ice skating rink. We got a little snow overnight, and now the wind is drifting it into mounds and hills, masking ice and frozen horse poop and thus making walking in the pasture a hazard.

Normally I wouldn't worry about walking the fence in such weather, I'd just do a cursory glance at it while feeding hay and turning everyone out. Today, though, I had to do something about it, and of course I wasn't dressed for it at all (what a day to have my only pair of flannel lined jeans in the wash!)

I did my usual glance while feeding, and noticed that one of the wood fence posts was leaning. I didn't think a lot about it, until I saw the electric cord that runs along the top of the fenceline was broken and dangling on the ground. Crap.

I walked out and saw the post was actually broken at the base, which is pretty impressive for a pressure treated 4x4 wood post. The fence was the only thing holding it up. So I go back into the barn, get my tools and some extra fence cord, and get to work. I'm glad I got a new barn jacket for Christmas, as I was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt (thinking I would just be working in the barn). That jacket is so nice, it covered my rump and the hood protected me from the wind without hampering my vision.

After fixing the fence, I walked the rest of the paddock to check for breaks or grounding. There was a part that got covered with snow when the neighbor thought he'd be nice and scrape the snow off the barnyard. It was nice, but he bent a fencepost in the process. One more thing to fix in the spring.

When I was satisfied that now one would get out or hurt themselves, I finished the barn chores, brought in Gem, Jul, and Sparky to get them out of the wind, and headed back to the house for a well deserved hot shower. I'm still thawing out, but I feel a bit more human and less like an icicle.

Weaning

Yesterday I got a call from a neighbor who was driving by:

"Christel, one of your horses is in your hayfield. I think it's one of the young ones."

Well, needless to say I was out the door in a flash, with horrible thoughts of the fence down and mares running all over (I'm glad I finally got the perimeter fence finished). I walked out around Never's paddock and let out a little of the breath that I was holding. No mares running all over, just Alex, grazing and keeping an eye on his mom on the other side of the fence.

I breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to Alex while trying to figure out how he got there. I pet him for a bit, then the herd moved. He followed, then *scoot* under the fence he went! He figured out that I hadn't electrified the second strand. He was back with the herd, so I went and cut the power, spliced the second strand into the rest of the fence, turned it back on and went back to working.

I took a break later in the afternoon to mow the lawn. I finish up and go to park the mower, and who do I see? You guessed it, Alex the Great on the wrong side of the fence again! By this time, I've done the math and figured out that he turned 6 months on Tuesday and Willow hasn't shown any desire to completely wean him. So, I get his halter, a lead rope, and Jac and go get him. He didn't want to be caught at first (I think he was a little surprised that the fence 'bit' him this time), but Jac and I finally calmed him a bit and got his halter on (which finally fits!).

He tried to walk off after the halter and lead were on. He got to the end of the rope, discovered resistance, and proceeded to do his best impersonation of a giant marlin. He dragged me around for a little bit, then settled down. I caught my breath, steeled my nerves, and started walking him to the barn, away from him mom and the rest of the herd. He got 'stuck' a couple of times, but he did well for the most part. I put him in the round pen, watched him for a bit to see if he'd be okay, and then went to the house to fix supper.

After supper, I went to do horse chores. I lead Alex to his stall, and he only tried to bolt once. Of course, Willow lead the herd into the barn, checked on her baby, then went to her stall to eat. I let everyone else in, fed and distributed hay, and then let the younger mares out. Willow went right out the gate without a word, thinking her baby would be right behind her as usual. I closed the gate, turned off the outside light, and started to walk away. Suddenly, Will is at the gate calling to Alex.

*sigh*

In the end I gave her and Alex treats soaked in Rescue Remedy. When they settled a little, I turned off the barn light and went to bed.

This morning, I get to the barn and Willow is still camped out by the gate. I feed all the horses that stayed inside, then make a decision. Tassel is 30 and pretty calm and easy going. I put her in the round pen, then go get Alex. He walks through the barn like a old pro, outside and right up to the round pen gate. There he balks a little, but after I shoo Tassel away he comes in. I take the lead off and he starts trotting and calling for his mama. His mama hears and calls back. Tassel just goes back to grazing. At one point, Alex tries to go to Tassel for comfort, but she half-heartedly kicks at him and walks off. I give him a few treats, then head to the house to get some work done.

I've been checking on him every 15 minutes or so, and he seems to be relaxing a bit. The neighing has stopped for now, and he's doing a little grazing, but mostly he's walking round and watching as the herd grazes across the paddocks. Tassel still seems not to care, but she's letting him get closer now. I feel bad, but he's 6 months old now and a big boy, he's more than old enough to be weaned. I'm glad the early lessons in haltering and leading have stuck with him, or else this might not have gone so well for either of us.